Ramathorn

God this is frustrating!

Love watching Huddlestone again. Playing the same role he did under Rowett, but in a Lampard system he’s got space around him and people showing for the ball allowing him bring the whole game under his spell for a while. Great composure and passing.

Play football the way we want to play, don’t resort to route one. Try to play with confidence and give a decent account of yourself. That’s all I ask. Result is secondary. Would bloody love a win though 🍺

Good game to watch, although we let them play far too much first half I thought. Craig Forsyth frustrates me. At times he seems to lack belief and conviction and his passes are weak; such a confidence player I guess, but when he’s off it he couldn’t find his mum with a pass if he was at his mums house and she was next to him on the sofa... but then he goes and makes that cross and all is just about forgiven.

Can’t really complain about the result as we looked a bit leggy and unable to take any real control in and around midfield. Norwich were bit of a cynical team though - no need as they can play some good stuff. Didn’t help that the ref gave them everything they wanted.

I thought that too. They both opened by saying “we know we’re a good team” which could have been considered bordering on cocky, but perhaps it’s just a case of self belief and confidence being instilled by the manager which you need in order to believe you can succeed... probably even something he picked up from his opposite number tonight when playing under him at Chelsea.

Wasn’t much of a set up really. I think they’d just done the pre match interview with Clement and then talked about him perhaps being under pressure after last season and pre season. Nothing to do with him time at Derby. Seemed like Bent saw an opportunity to share his story.

Why has Connor got so many spiders in his house?

Summary of what Benty said about Clement, for those asking (paraphrasing based on recollection): - Sacking perhaps wasn’t a surprise to the players. The philosophy and style he brought to the team at the start was being thrown out because results weren’t right, training and match days had changed, players expected him to “crumble”. - He avoided confrontation; certain players would go speak to him about not being in the team and wouldn’t really get an answer. —— Not sure how much of this is Benty bitterness and how much is the real reason, but it doesn’t sound like something that would have to have been kept so quiet.

This isn’t panic stations However, that wasn’t great was it. Im going to put it down to nerves and the fact that Reading have been tenacious in closing us down, but we do also seem to lack the ability to give the back line (who it seems are under instructions not to lift it off the ground) an option to pass to. I predict the second half to be much better. ...and I’m not even drunk!

Lowe did have a couple of times where he got himself the wrong side or showed some naivety but honestly I didn’t care. What the lad did do far outweighed any minor slip-ups or lapses in judgement. Some lovely skill at times. Thats kind of my outlook on the youth in this team; they’ll make mistakes but they’ll also excite us. Let ‘em make the mistakes. Its only when it’s players who don’t offer anything other than “experience” that get the basics wrong that it gets frustrating. Lots and lots to look forward to this season.

Should we rename the thread to “Sideways info” then?

Opener - away at Villa Last game - home to Swansea

That’ll be F*rest at home then

They have just the right number of empty seats to cause an echo effect making the noise and atmosphere appear better than it actually is. Rumour is that Rowett was trying to boost our atmosphere using the same tactic by driving enough fans away with boring football. 🙄